Chris Hayes Blasts ‘Golden Toilet Guy’ Trump for ‘Preaching Minimalism’

MSNBC‘s Chris Hayes didn’t pull any punches on Wednesday’s (April 30) episode of All In as he slammed “Golden Toilet Guy” President Donald Trump for “preaching minimalism” amid ongoing economic turmoil.

The response came as Trump’s back-and-forth tariffs and trade war with China have caused the stock market to plummet in recent weeks, and now there are fears of a recession.

While Trump blamed the quarterly numbers on former President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday, Hayes fired back, pointing out how the economy was actually stable under Biden.

“As wages stayed high and unemployment near record lows, they ended up with this kind of Goldilocks, ‘not too hot, not too cool’ economy, a very difficult trick to pull off. It never went into recession, something so many people on TV kept saying was coming right around the corner, over and over and over,” Hayes said, per The Wrap.

“And the upshot of all this was that Joe Biden handed Donald Trump an American economy that had gone through unbelievable turmoil and had emerged as the global growth leader,” he added. “All Donald Trump had to do was just not screw it up. But he’s really, really intent on screwing it up.”

Hayes then noted how the American economy has “contracted” since Trump took office in January, “meaning it shrank the nation’s GDP, all the goods and services we all produced, the total value of the economy could shrink in the first quarter of this year by 310 of a percent.”

The host put the blame on Trump’s “wildly destructive trade war,” which has “everyone scared of higher costs and emptier shelves.” Hayes noted how Trump’s approach to international trade is “likely to continue to cost enormous amounts of growth and jack up prices on all imported goods and possibly pitch the economy fully into recession.”

He then pointed out how this is already impacting Christmas 2025, claiming, “Retailers are even ordering ahead for Christmas season, and toy makers and retailers are now pausing orders the winter holidays. 90% of America’s Christmas goods come from Yes, you guessed it, China, Barbie dolls, things like that, China. And if you’re waiting for Jolly Old Saint Trump to save Christmas, listen to this speech.”

Related

MSNBC's Chris Hayes Gives His Verdict on Trump's Approval Ratings

Hayes aired a clip of Trump, who responded to the Christmas price hikes, saying, “Somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be empty.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls… And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”

“Oh, the golden toilet guy is now preaching minimalism?” Hayes retorted, referring to Trump’s own indulgences. “Imagine if that had been Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign message. ‘You already have too much crap. You spoiled brats. You and your kids are going to have to make do with less, and the less stuff is going to be more expensive.'”

In conclusion, Hayes said, “Every economic expert CEO has been warning him for months that this would happen, but he’s not listening to them because he’s listening to himself and his own experts.”

You can watch the entire segment in the video above.